Lifting platform



Dec. 1924- 7 1,518,561

A W. CARROLL LIFT ING PLATFORM FiLed May 51 1923 I A. W CARROLL. Lw

Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LIFTING PLATFORM.

Application rflled May 31, 1923. Serial No. 642,552.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER W. CAR- noLL. a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Elizabeth, county of'Union, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifting Platforms, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to a lifting platform for trucks, and, more particularly, to a lifting platform which enables articles to he lifted without the necessity of inserting the platform under the article.

In the type of lifting platforms heretofore used it has been necessary to insert the plat form directly under the object to-be lifted and carried. This has necessitated placing the object on supports spacing it from the ground or when not so supported necessitating a preliminary lifting beforeloading in order that the platform might be inserted thereunder. A similar lifting or supporting is required when the object is unloaded in order that the platform may be withdrawn.

An object of my present invention is to provide a lifting platform capable of lifting objects without the necessity of being inserted thereunder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lifting platform for trucks comprising arms movable sidewise to engage cleats or ears on opposite sides of objects to be lifted. g

A further object of the invention is to provide means under the control of the driver of the truck for moving the arms of the platform to or from each other.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the apparatus described and set forth in the following specification and claims.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which: I

F ig. 1 is a plan view of a platform embodying a form of the invention, the platform arms being shown in full lines in. one position and in dotted lines in another position.

Fig. 2 is a side View of the platform shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view of a carboy and an end view of the platform arms illustrating a manner in which the carboy may be lifted,

Fig. 4 is a similar view of an application of the lifting platform to a stack of tote boxes,

Fig. 5 is a view of a platform supported a slight distance above the ground and a sectional view of a pair of the platform arms positioned thereunder, illustrating another application of the invention,

Fig. 6 is a side view of a different form of the invention having a depending sling for supporting an object and,

Fig. is an end View of the platform arrangement of Fig. 6 and of an object supported or carried thereby.

In the present invention, a truck isprovlded with a cross head which may be elevated and lowered in vertical guide ways n the usual manner. A horizontal guide is provided on this cross head on which are slidably supported a pair of parallel horizontal arms extending forwardly in approximately the position of the usual type of platform. These arms are movable simultaneously to and from each other by a screw or equivalent device so that the arms may be brought under cleats or lugs on objects of different. sizes or under platforms of difi'erent dimensions or otherwise applied to various conditions of use. The arms may also be provided with depending loops or slings which may be moved to engage under cleats or lugs or under objects of various sizes and shapes in a manner similar to the application of the slidable arms. The controlling screw or equivalent device may be arranged to be controlled by the operator of the truck and to operate or slide both arms simultaneously from a single source.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings, a platform embodying my invention is illustrated as mounted on a cross head 10 guided at either side in vertical guides 12 and 14 by means of rollers 16 or in any other suitable manner. The vertical guides 12 and 14 may be mounted on suitable truck or vehicle as, for example on the forward end of an elec trical truck of standard construction.

On the forward face of the cross head 10 is mounted a platform comprising a horizontal guide bar 18 on which are slidably supported a pair of forwardly extending arms and 22 which form the carrying or platform part of the apparatus. The guide bar is formed with a channel 24 in its upper surface back of a ridge or rail 26 on which from each other on the guide bar 18 by means of a horizontal screw member 40 extending longitudinally in longitudinal chambers 42 and 43 in the guide between the upper and lower hanger channels and rails at either side of the middle of the guide bar. The screw 40 is provided on the portion in the chamber 42 with a right hand screwthreaded surface 44 on which is threaded a nut 46 rigidly attached to the arm 20 and in the other chamber 43 with a left handed screw threaded surface 48 on which is threaded a nut 50 rigidly attached to the arm 22. As the screw member 40 is rotated in one direction, the nuts 46 and 50 and the arms 20 and 22 approach each other and when it is turned in the other direction the nuts 46 and 50 and their respective arms move away from each other.

The ends of the screw member 40 are not threaded and are mounted in end flanges 52 and 54 closing the ends of the chambers 42 and 43 and limiting the outward movement of the platform arms. The middle portion of the screw member 40 is also free of screwthreads and is centrally supported in partitions 56 and 58 which limitthe inner movement of the arms 20 and 22.

- The screw member 40'is rotated from a shaft 60, mounted horizontally in the cross head 10 at right angles to the screw 40, through a bevel gear 62, on the end of the shaft 60, which meshes with a bevel gear 64 mounted on the screw 40 in a central chamber 66 between the partitions 56 and 58. The shaft 60 is rotated in either direction by means under control of the driver of the truck through any suitable mechanism.

In picking up an article from the ground the arms may be inserted under the article as in the use of the usual type of platform as indicated in Fig. 5, and moved to provide a wider support, or when picking up a carboy 66, for example, as in Fig. 3, the arms .may be brought under cleats 68 at either side of the carboy box, or, in picking up tote boxes 70, as in Fig. 4, the arms may be brought under the rims 72. When the boxes are unloaded on the ground the arms may be lowered and then spread to release them from the boxes. To enable the arms to take up the boxes and carry them without danger ofslippin the up er surfaces of the arms are beveled inward y as at 74.

In carrying flat objects such as bars and cakes of metal it may be'preferable to carry the objects in slings depending from movable arms; and 22' are made of cylindrical form as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and a flat loop or sling 7 6 having ahorizontal lower portion 78 carried by apair of upright supporting. strap members80 and 82 having collars'84 and 86 mounted on the arms 20 or 22. Thearms 20 or 22' are provided with caps 88 at their outer-ends to prevent the 'loops or collars from sliding off.

In using this type of arm, the cross head is lowered until the lower horizontal portions7 8 of the loops are lower than the object to be lifted, the arms arethen moved For this purpose the arms 20 toward each other until the loops are be- I neath the object to be lifted and the cross head is then raised. In unloadingthe op- I crations are reversed.

For picking up some objects such as ice, boxes, without cleats, and similar things, the inner faces of the arms 20 and 22 may be provided with projecting teeth or spurs 82 which grip the objects when brought against their opposite sides. These spurs may be removably mounted, as indicated by the. screwthreaded structures, and may project upwardly as indicated in Fig. 5.

As changes of construction could be made within the scope of my invention it is intended that all matter contained in the' above description or shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent is: I

' 1. Apparatus of the type described which I comprises, a vertically guided cross head, a

horizontal guide bar secured to the front face of said cross head, a pair of forwardly extending parallel arms slidably mounted on said guide bar to spaced parallel positions and means mounted in fixed aligned position on both said cross head and guide bar for simultaneously moving said arms to or from each other on said guide bar. 1

2. Apparatus of the type described which comprises, a vertically guided cross head, a horizontal guide bar secured on the forward face of said cross head, a pair of forwardly projecting arms slidably mounted on said guide bar to move in spaced parallel positions on said guide bar, a screw mounted on said guide bar provided with right and left screw threads on opposite sides of its center and having a threaded connection with the respective arms on opposite sides of the center of the guide bar, and a shaft 4 for actuating said screw, mounted in aligned fixed hearings on said cross head and guide bar. i

3. Apparatus of the type described which Q comprises, a vertically movable guided cross [cross head, a horizontal guide bar on said cross head having an upper and a lower rail and a channel back of each rail, and an outwardly extending arm having portions extending about said rails and into said channels.

5. Apparatus of the type described which comprises, a vertically movable and guided horizontal bar having an upper and a lower rail and channels back of said rails, forwardly extending horizontal arms having sliding hangers extending backwards about said rails and into said channels, a' screw member supported in said guide bar between said upper and lower rails, and members on said arms through which said screw member is threaded.

6; Apparatus of the type described which comprises, a vertically movable and guided horizontal bar having an upper and a lower rail and channels back of said rails, forwardly extending horizontal arms having hangers extending backwards about said rails and into said channels and slidable on said guide bar, a screw member supported longitudinally in chambers between said rails of said guide bar and having oppositely threaded surfaces at either side of its middle and members rigid with said arms through which said screw member is threaded.

7. Apparatus of the type described which comprises, a horizontal guide bar, a pair of forwardly extending, horizontal arms mounted on said guide bar to slide to spaced parallel positions, and loops carried by and depending from said arms.

ALEXANDER W. CARROLL. 

